OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

[Montag]

Completed the 5th adventure of Gloomhaven. My tinkerer is now level 3 and has 4 perks.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I played another game of Terraforming Mars last night. I really like the theme and the art, but it really has very little player interaction. I haven't played it solo, but it seems like it wouldn't be all that different than against others.

I also played Fauna for the first time. I hadn't heard of it before and really enjoyed it. The idea is that each turn you are shown an animal and each player has cubes that the use to either place on a region they think it lives in (on a world map divided into probably fifty regions) or to estimate of the weight, length, or tail length. You get the most points if you're spot on and smaller amount of points if your cubes were placed adjacent to the correct answer.

My only complain was that I didn't win, which is a bit embarrassing as a biologist. In my defense, I think the game didn't have the correct entire range for hippos (I put my cubes in Egypt and the game didn't list that as an endemic region). But still was a fun game that only took about 30 minutes with four players. And there seem to be hundreds of animal cards, so you would be hard pressed to run through all the cards. Seems like it could be a great game to play with kids.

[Blackhawk]

The kids have been away since the day after I got back from GenCon, so I couldn't really play most of the new games properly, but I did take the time to learn a few of them. I played a few solo and multi-hand games of Legendary: Marvel (which I love), and was able to get a fairly solid handle on Galaxy Trucker. I just tried my first game of Hostage Negotiator. It went poorly. Very, very poorly. I think I need to put some time into learning some strategies!

[MonkeyFinger]

I played another game of Terraforming Mars last night. I really like the theme and the art, but it really has very little player interaction. I haven't played it solo, but it seems like it wouldn't be all that different than against others.

I'm curious if anyone here has played this solo and if so, what you thought of it?

[Montag]

Haven't done Terraforming Mars solo yet. If I do, would be with Tabletop Simulator.

[coopasonic]

Played a couple games of Kingdomino with X(11). He crushed me in the second game. I am taking the kid gloves off.

[Chaosraven]

Played a few games of Terraforming Mars yesterday, and I would consider the "screw your neighbor" aspects of the game plenty of interaction.

Hate Drafting, being the one to take the Milestones/Awards, placement of tiles on Mars, the race at the end for TR from O2 and Temp to keep others from it, the calculations of production for Awards the final turn, that 1 action to keep from passing versus the Gotta Do Two to get them done before someone ruins it.

I am loving this game, and I lost all three times yesterday.

[LordMortis]

Played a few games of Terraforming Mars yesterday, and I would consider the "screw your neighbor" aspects of the game plenty of interaction.

Hate Drafting, being the one to take the Milestones/Awards, placement of tiles on Mars, the race at the end for TR from O2 and Temp to keep others from it, the calculations of production for Awards the final turn, that 1 action to keep from passing versus the Gotta Do Two to get them done before someone ruins it.

I am loving this game, and I lost all three times yesterday.

Ditto. Game has played with a different personality in all of the 7 games we've played and we still haven't played with all of the corporations. The first expansion is out now. I suppose I may to check the FLGS for it.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/218 ... as-elysium

Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium, the first expansion for Terraforming Mars, consists of a double-sided game board presenting two new areas of Mars:

• Elysium takes players almost to the opposite side of Mars' equator, with vast lowlands for oceans in the north and a dry, mineral-rich south. Place a tile on Olympus Mons, the highest peak in the solar system, to gain three free cards!

• Hellas, the southern wild, includes Mars' south pole and the enormous seven-hex Hellas crater that just begs to become a giant lake. Building around the pole gives you new placement bonuses in the form of heat and possibly even water.

Each of these maps consists of new sets of milestones and awards with relevance for that particular map. Place three tiles around the south pole to be a Polar Explorer, for example, or race to have the most estates beside water on Elysium!

Appears to be two more maps. I don't see anything about more cards or corporations or anything.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Certainly there is interaction in the drafting and with the cards that allow you to remove resources from another player. But, at least in the games I've played, players are mainly taking their actions and building their economy machine without much regard to what other players are doing. That's fine and still makes for a fun game, but I just would have liked some more intricate ways of interacting with other players.

[coopasonic]

Played a couple games of Kingdomino with X(11). He crushed me in the second game. I am taking the kid gloves off.

I went crazy and played another board game this weekend! I played the tutorial scenario for Star Trek: Frontiers. It kind of makes me want to play Mage Knight again. I only played Mage Knight once as my first game at my first convention and I didn't get it... for about three hours I didn't get it. I understand it a lot better now having a lot more gaming experience and going through the Frontiers tutorial at my own pace and having watched Ricky Royal play one round solo. There's no way I could teach it though.

[YellowKing]

I understand it a lot better now having a lot more gaming experience and going through the Frontiers tutorial at my own pace and having watched Ricky Royal play one round solo. There's no way I could teach it though.

I successfully taught Frontiers, but that was after watching several tutorial videos (repeatedly), then playing it myself solo 3-4 times. Unfortunately the guy I taught it to only lasted a couple of play sessions. The game was just too big of a time sink and we abandoned it.

It is one that I'd like to go back to for solo play at some point, but ideally I'd need a place where I could safely store it and resume over multiple days.

[Blackhawk]

I couldn't find Frontiers at GenCon, but I did get a copy of Mage Knight for about half price. I plan to set it up as a solo game during times when the kids are away for several days and I can just take over the table and leave it up.

[Chaosraven]

Well I am now very disappointed in the publishers of Terraforming Mars, as they had BGG take down the cardlist for the game.

Ridiculous paranoia on people "printing their own free copy", since one could simply borrow a friends purchased copy and make a set.

The time and effort involved in such a task is going to be far beyond the fifty bucks for the game, and for an inferior copy.
(Case in point, when a friend wanted the original Eon Cosmic Encounter, he did borrow and make a copy when it was out of print, and needed to laminate most of it to make it playable... the cost versus the simple purchase, had it been available in stores was way too much yet less than the rapidly inflating secondary market prices)

I wanted to verify a card name and action on it.
Even if I had the game, I would have to dig through the entire deck to find it.

Why am I disappointed?
Because Wizards of the Coast gives you access to a WebSearch function for Name, Type, Color, Ability, etc for every card they have ever produced, and it comes up as a FULL COLOR WITH ART PICTURE OF THE CARD.

Yet somehow they survived.

I am less inclined to purchase my own copy of the game if they are going to behave this way for fan based resources.

[LordMortis]

Well I am now very disappointed in the publishers of Terraforming Mars, as they had BGG take down the cardlist for the game.

That is sad. I did not see that but I did notice their images and such were very limited when I was looking for the contents of the expansion.

[Blackhawk]

Write them. Write the publishers a polite note and tell them what you just told us.

[coopasonic]

I was at Target this weekend browsing the board game shelves for something for my kids and I saw "Sonar"... which looked an awful lot like Captain Sonar. It looks like it is Sonar-light designed for 2-4 players. The box didn't have any useful info on how it differs from the 8 player version.

https://www.target.com/p/sonar-board-game

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/231819/sonar

Time for an underwater game of cat-and-mouse, with each of the two teams in Sonar competing to be the first to deal two points of damage to the other. Do that, and you win the game instantly.

In detail, Sonar includes four pairs of maps, and each team takes the same maps in their color. A team can be one or two players, and with two players on a team, each player takes a different role: Captain or Radio Operator. (A one--person team handles both roles.) A divider separates the teams, and each Captain marks their starting location on the map.

On a turn, the Captain calls out an action, typically moving their sub one space north, south, east, or west. When they do this, they call out a direction, mark their new location, and add one energy to their ship's register. The Radio Operator on the other team notes the movement of this sub on a plastic sheet, and through deduction and trial-and-error tries to determine exactly where the opposing sub might be on the map.

Instead of a moving, a Captain can also:

Use sonar: Erase two energy from your register; the opposing team must reveal their row or column.
Go silent: Erase three energy from your register; move your sub, but don't gain energy and don't tell the opponents which direction you're moving.
Fire a torpedo: Erase four energy from your register; call out coordinates in your quadrant (e.g., F6); if the opponents are on that space, they take a point of damage.
Surface: Announce your location to the opposing team, then erase your previous path on your map; you can't cross your own path during the game, so sometimes you need to surface in order not to box yourself in.
You can have at most four energy in reserve, so you need to manage movement and the other actions carefully so that you'll be able to fire at the opponents once you know where they are — ideally without being torpedoed in response!

So it looks like it drops damage with every move as well as mines and drones, and limits how many system you can charge.

[LordMortis]

Captain Sonar was too intense for me. I am a sad sad human being.

Write them. Write the publishers a polite note and tell them what you just told us.

I saw the comments and it was pretty clear they won't change their mind and the thread was pretty clear that there are people out there with chaosraven's opinion on information availability in games.

I concur with chaosraven's sentiment. The cost to knock off the game at home would be more than $50 which is to say nothing of the personal effort you'd have to put in to knocking it off. It's a poor decision on the designer's part but it is largely their decision to make. It won't keep me from buying their games but it is a strike against them.

[hepcat]

Captain Sonar was too intense for me. I am a sad sad human being.

You and me both, brother. You were sitting next to me during that game, so you know how quickly I bowed out after my initial embarrassing turn. I was a nervous wreck for about 20 minutes after that.

[LordMortis]

Captain Sonar was too intense for me. I am a sad sad human being.

You and me both, brother. You were sitting next to me during that game, so you know how quickly I bowed out after my initial embarrassing turn. I was a nervous wreck for about 20 minutes after that.

Me too and I wasn't even captain. I was just schlubbing along listening to you plot your course and marking where Z was launching stuff. I can see the appeal but for my time it wasn't a game it was a stressful job and if that were my real job I'd have a panic attack inside of a day, I think.

[Defiant]

Oh man, sorry to hear that about Captain Sonar.

I do enjoy cooperative games, and I enjoyed the experience of Artemis. I don't, on the other hand, enjoy some of the real time games like Escape: The Curse of the Temple and especially Magic Maze. I did find Space Cadets: DIce Duel an ok but flawed game, and was hoping Captain Sonar would be better than it. But it sounds like it's more on the hectic side. I still want to play a game of it for the experience, but I guess I wont enjoy it as much as I've ben hoping.

[LordMortis]

Oh man, sorry to hear that about Captain Sonar.

I do enjoy cooperative games, and I enjoyed the experience of Artemis. I don't, on the other hand, enjoy some of the real time games like Escape: The Curse of the Temple and especially Magic Maze. I did find Space Cadets: DIce Duel an ok but flawed game, and was hoping Captain Sonar would be better than it. But it sounds like it's more on the hectic side. I still want to play a game of it for the experience, but I guess I wont enjoy it as much as I've ben hoping.

Most of the 8 people (9 including the judge) loved the game. Hep and I, I think were the exception. But yes, it is hectic and I, personally, felt a lot of pressure to not make a mistake in a real time moving very fast.

If you like intense gaming, this is it.

[Lordnine]

Captain Sonar seems to be pretty divisive with people. Part of the fun of the game comes from the fact that people DO make mistakes and then everything goes wrong. It is basically an experience in damage mitigation, things will go wrong and your team needs to overcome your problems better than the opposing team is overcoming theirs.

But if you are easily worried about what other people will think of your performance, it’s probably not going to be a game that sits well with you. I’ve brought it out at a few different gatherings now and usually the majority of the group really enjoys it but there are almost always one or two people that get super stressed out. I have found that I can help a little with this with some gentle role-playing. People seem to get less stressed if everyone is playing a part and laughing about it than just trying to "beat the game".

[coopasonic]

FYI, Sonar is turn based with a much narrower scope, so it might help some of you that got stressed out with Captain Sonar. Apparently it is also already on clearance at some stores (it sounds like it is a Target exclusive btw).

[LordMortis]

Captain Sonar seems to be pretty divisive with people. Part of the fun of the game comes from the fact that people DO make mistakes and then everything goes wrong. It is basically an experience in damage mitigation, things will go wrong and your team needs to overcome your problems better than the opposing team is overcoming theirs.

But if you are easily worried about what other people will think of your performance, it’s probably not going to be a game that sits well with you. I’ve brought it out at a few different gatherings now and usually the majority of the group really enjoys it but there are almost always one or two people that get super stressed out. I have found that I can help a little with this with some gentle role-playing. People seem to get less stressed if everyone is playing a part and laughing about it than just trying to "beat the game".

There was not time to laugh in the game hep and I were playing. Each captain was barking an order out about every 3 seconds while everyone reacted. I could only intensely focus on what Z and Hepcat were saying and had try and block everything else out. Even then, I made a mistake the Z noted, didn't correct me on, but knew exactly how to translate. When the game was over, he moved my place mat over one entire square and shrugged.

[Lordnine]

That sounds less fun. Also, technically, the captain is supposed to wait for the all clear from his team before moving on. This is actually important because it’s possible that he can’t do something if his engineer breaks a system that he wants to use.

[hepcat]

I PANICKED, ALRIGHT!!!

...calm...calm...gotta find my center...

[LordMortis]

That sounds less fun. Also, technically, the captain is supposed to wait for the all clear from his team before moving on. This is actually important because it’s possible that he can’t do something if his engineer breaks a system that he wants to use.

They were. That was the pace at which we were moving. It may have been a horse with blinders thing where our crew was trying to keep up with HepC and his crew was trying to keep up with Z but the game moved fast. Or maybe we all just assumed were were supposed to be acting at the pace you see in the movies. I dunno.

[hentzau]

It was also the first game that any of us had played, and I was trying to coach you guys through that first game while I was trying to deal with the pizza order. So that didn't help with that first game.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Oh man, sorry to hear that about Captain Sonar.

I do enjoy cooperative games, and I enjoyed the experience of Artemis. I don't, on the other hand, enjoy some of the real time games like Escape: The Curse of the Temple and especially Magic Maze. I did find Space Cadets: DIce Duel an ok but flawed game, and was hoping Captain Sonar would be better than it. But it sounds like it's more on the hectic side. I still want to play a game of it for the experience, but I guess I wont enjoy it as much as I've ben hoping.

For a more light-hearted real-time co-op dice game that plays in only 10 minutes, I'd suggest FUSE from Renegade Game Studios (more well-known as the talent behind Clank!):

FUSE

Intruders have made their way on to your ship! Their goal: Total Destruction!

FUSE is a real time cooperative dice game for 2-5 players where friends work together to quickly save their ship from impending doom!

Twenty bombs have been detected on-board, and the ship's computer has begun to countdown. Your elite Bomb Defusal Team (BDT) has been called into action to neutralize thethreat.

Hurry! The computer says you only have 10 Minutes to complete your task.

Does your team have what it takes to work through the intricacies of the bombs and defuse them all in time?

You'd better get moving, because this game will self-destruct in 10 minutes...

They also provide a nifty free companion app for the game which helps inject more thematic flavour, and also assists in scoring games.

Anyway, you can see how it plays in this Dice Tower review.

[Defiant]

FYI, Sonar is turn based with a much narrower scope, so it might help some of you that got stressed out with Captain Sonar. Apparently it is also already on clearance at some stores (it sounds like it is a Target exclusive btw).

Looks like there's a turn based mode to Captain Sonar, too. How does that play?

[Defiant]

Oh man, sorry to hear that about Captain Sonar.

I do enjoy cooperative games, and I enjoyed the experience of Artemis. I don't, on the other hand, enjoy some of the real time games like Escape: The Curse of the Temple and especially Magic Maze. I did find Space Cadets: DIce Duel an ok but flawed game, and was hoping Captain Sonar would be better than it. But it sounds like it's more on the hectic side. I still want to play a game of it for the experience, but I guess I wont enjoy it as much as I've ben hoping.

For a more light-hearted real-time co-op dice game that plays in only 10 minutes, I'd suggest FUSE from Renegade Game Studios (more well-known as the talent behind Clank!):

FUSE

Intruders have made their way on to your ship! Their goal: Total Destruction!

FUSE is a real time cooperative dice game for 2-5 players where friends work together to quickly save their ship from impending doom!

Twenty bombs have been detected on-board, and the ship's computer has begun to countdown. Your elite Bomb Defusal Team (BDT) has been called into action to neutralize thethreat.

Hurry! The computer says you only have 10 Minutes to complete your task.

Does your team have what it takes to work through the intricacies of the bombs and defuse them all in time?

You'd better get moving, because this game will self-destruct in 10 minutes...

They also provide a nifty free companion app for the game which helps inject more thematic flavour, and also assists in scoring games.

Anyway, you can see how it plays in this Dice Tower review.

I'll keep an eye out for it.

[coopasonic]

FYI, Sonar is turn based with a much narrower scope, so it might help some of you that got stressed out with Captain Sonar. Apparently it is also already on clearance at some stores (it sounds like it is a Target exclusive btw).

Looks like there's a turn based mode to Captain Sonar, too. How does that play?

Yeah, turn based is billed as the learning mode for Captain Sonar. It can drag on a bit. That's the biggest problem I think. There is basically no waiting when you are playing real time. There can be quite a bit playing turn based. I think if I were to play turn based again outside of a learning game I'd want to do it with something like a chess clock. You get ~15 seconds per move with a 2 minute bank. If the bank runs out, you take damage and the bank resets. If you waste 8 minutes of my time, your sub sinks without me even having to hit you!

[Zarathud]

I laughed...at the insanity. After a while, both captains sped up the game pace for giggles and looking for a potential advantage. Would play again.

[YellowKing]

Took our last shot at Mansions of Madness last night, in a vain attempt to beat the only scenario out of the core game and every expansion that we haven't won.

It's a bullshit scenario that is wildly out of sync with the difficulty rating of every other scenario, even though they list it as 4 stars. Even with an extremely customized set of characters we didn't even come close to winning. At the end, all five of us went insane, and one died.

In a slightly ironic twist, however, we had a chance to win the game outright by virtue of an insanity condition. Unfortunately we were literally one move short of being able to meet the condition due to three members of our party being restrained.

I'm more than ready to put MoM aside at this point, as we've been playing for something like 10 weeks straight now. So next week we're cracking open FIRST MARTIANS. Hey, at least it will be a *different* kind of getting our nuts punched repeatedly.

[Bad Demographic]

This week (and last Sunday), we played Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, Machi Koro (with several expansions) and Codenames.

Bob and I tried Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu on Sunday - with only one character each - and won quite handily. I played it two more times Monday night with three other people (so there were 4 characters) and were crushed both times. We had fun anyway.
If for some reason you haven't heard of it, it's a modified version of Pandemic. The board has a darker, more Cthulhu-y feel, your characters and the cultists are miniatures, as are the Shoggoths.

[YellowKing]

I enjoyed Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu way more than I thought I would. I was expecting a very thin re-skin of Pandemic, but I was pleasantly surprised at how different it plays. I think it's because the smaller map and easier movement allow you to really focus on containment strategy vs worrying about getting from A to B. It's almost like Pandemic Lite without actually being easier, which is a great combo.

While I'm posting, I'm itching for a new game. Any suggestions? I've been looking at Godfather (the Watch It Played looked fun, and I love Mafia themes), and Great Western Trail (ditto on the theme).

[hentzau]

I enjoyed Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu way more than I thought I would. I was expecting a very thin re-skin of Pandemic, but I was pleasantly surprised at how different it plays. I think it's because the smaller map and easier movement allow you to really focus on containment strategy vs worrying about getting from A to B. It's almost like Pandemic Lite without actually being easier, which is a great combo.

While I'm posting, I'm itching for a new game. Any suggestions? I've been looking at Godfather (the Watch It Played looked fun, and I love Mafia themes), and Great Western Trail (ditto on the theme).

Absolutely love GWT. I vote for this one.

[Defiant]

GWT is my favorite recent game, but I don't think much of it's theme, it's the gameplay that makes it great. I've heard good things about Godfather but haven't had the chance to play it.

[Chaosraven]

Spent the day gaming with kenetickid and his son, LM brought Terraforming Mars and we played a couple four player, then a couple three player when LM went home and graciously lent us the game.

Followed by a game of Marvel Munchkin, then a game of Chez Goth, and finally a game of Fairy Tale.

I will need to pick up the Marvel Munchkin expansions, as that was a hit with the fellas.
I enjoyed Chez Goth more than Chez Geek games I remember.
Had to teach Fairy Tale as it is one of chaosfaeries favorites and hope to drag her off of Diablo3 long enough to join us tomorrow.

Gaming and laundry tomorrow!

[hepcat]

Two scenarios of Gloomhaven, a game of Too Many Bones and way too much beer yesterday. A fine Saturday of gaming. Every time I play Too Many Bones, I want to to play it again immediately. Such a great, great game.